B/R Pound-for-Pound Boxing Rankings for October

It's a good time to be a high-level boxer.

The big-fight pipeline that was clogged to a trickle during the pandemic has reopened to full capacity in recent months, yielding a series of impressive outings by some of the sport's highest-profile practitioners.

Their reemergence has reignited a perpetual debate over who's the best of the best regardless of weight class, and the B/R combat sports team decided to wade in with its own list of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters.

Our rubric for the rankings includes all weight classes, from heavyweight on down. Recent fight results were factored into the equation along with past performances and input from other respected P4P sources, including The Ring and Boxing Scene, among others.

Scroll through to see what we came up with, and drop a line with your own thoughts in the comments.

Weight Class: 140 pounds

Titles Held: WBO

He may not be the world's most recognized fighter even with a pristine 19-0 record and 13 KOs, but 140-pound ace Josh Taylor is in the running for best nickname thanks to the "Tartan Tornado" moniker hung on him by adoring fans in his home country of Scotland.

Now 31, the frenetic southpaw has been acquiring championship jewelry for the past three years, beginning with the IBF's junior welterweight belt in 2019 with a defeat of Ivan Baranchyk and becoming the undisputed man in the division with a subsequent pair of wins over Regis Prograis (WBA) and José Ramírez (WBC/WBO) in 2019 and 2021.

He was cut, dropped and nearly beaten by unheralded Englishman Jack Catterall before earning a hotly debated split decision eight months ago and has been inactive since, though a rematch has been discussed pending available dates and venues.

Weight Class: 135 pounds

Titles Held: None

All of a sudden, Vasyl Lomachenko is one of the sport's grizzled veterans.

The 34-year-old Ukrainian turned pro in 2013 after a spectacular amateur career and was an immediate prodigy, competing for a world title in his second fight and winning one in his third before ultimately compiling belts at 126, 130 and 135 pounds.

He won 13 straight with nine KOs during that trinket-acquiring stretch, earning the nickname "No Mas Chenko" after several opponents chose to quit on their stools rather than rejoining the fray with him.

He was upset by a then-unbeaten Teófimo López and lost his lightweight title belts in October 2020, but he has won two straight since and is scheduled to fight again later this month while remaining in the mix for another championship bid at 135.

Weight Class: 135 pounds

Titles Held: None

Probably the best of the burgeoning crop of young fighters in the lighter weight classes, Shakur Stevenson has already won belts in two weight classes by age 25 and has his sights set on entering the mix in the talent-sopped 135-pound ranks.

The 2016 Olympic medalist has won all 19 fights as a pro and initially became a champion at featherweight in 2019 before moving up two years later to win gold at 130 pounds with an impressive stoppage of 25-fight veteran Jamel Herring.

He unified the WBC and WBO belts with a wide decision over fellow champ Óscar Valdez in April and was set to meet once-beaten Robson Conceição in September, but he failed to make weight and vacated his titles before going ahead and winning another clear decision.

His move to 135 pounds sets up a number of intriguing bouts with the likes of Lomachenko, López, undisputed champ Devin Haney or unbeaten slugger Gervonta Davis.

Weight Class: 175 pounds

Titles Held: WBA

Introducing perhaps the world's best fighter no one knows.

The lanky, skilled and unbeaten Dmitry Bivol has actually made a world title claim of one form or another for nearly five full years, but he didn't approach mainstream status until coming in as a B-side of a matchup with pay-per-view stalwart Canelo Álvarez in May.

Álvarez was expected to add another title belt to a prodigious resume, but Bivol delivered a clinical schooling that yielded a narrow 7-5 margin on all three official scorecards but was generally viewed as much closer to 9-3 or 10-2 in reality.

A rematch with the popular Mexican has been discussed ever since, but Bivol, now 20-0 with 11 KOs, will return to the ring in early November with a mandatory WBA defense against No. 1 contender and former super middleweight champ Gilberto Ramírez.

Weight Class: 147 pounds

Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC

Errol Spence Jr. has done all there is to do at 147 pounds.

Almost.

The soft-spoken Texan is 28-0 with 22 KOs since turning pro a decade ago and has won seven straight title bouts with four KOs since 2017, when he defeated Kell Brook to win the IBF's welterweight championship in Sheffield, England.

Six IBF defenses later and he's unified three of the division's four major belts, defeating Shawn Porter for the WBC title in 2019 and stopping Yordenis Ugás for the WBA's crown six months ago.

A long-awaited showdown with fellow unbeaten champ Terence Crawford is once again on the front burner and has been most recently reported for mid-November, according to ESPN, though nothing has been made official with a contract signing or a public announcement.

Should it occur, it would be this generation's entry into a long line of major welterweight events, including Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns in 1981 and more recently Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

Weight Class: 168 pounds

Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO

It's already been an eventful year for Canelo Álvarez.

The cinnamon-haired Mexican began the year without a loss since 2013 and had plans to both finish a trilogy with recent rival Gennady Golovkin and return to the light heavyweight ranks to pursue bigger championship quarry.

He put the cart before the horse, however, and lost a unanimous decision to the aforementioned Dmitry Bivol in a bid for the WBA's 175-pound title. That brought Golovkin back into focus, and Álvarez put an exclamation on their trilogy with a unanimous decision last month in Las Vegas, finishing the series with a 2-0-1 record.

He claimed an injury to his left hand after that fight and will be on the shelf until at least May 2023 and possibly longer, at which point he can choose to defend his undisputed status at 168 pounds or reengage with Bivol or another champion at 175.

Weight Class: Heavyweight

Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBO

Thirteen months have changed a lot of things for Oleksandr Usyk.

As summer turned to fall in 2021, the Ukrainian was a big underdog as he prepared for a challenge of three-belt heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua after having risen to the high-profile division after a prolific and undisputed run at cruiserweight.

Usyk pulled one of the upsets of 2021 with a one-sided decision over Joshua, then repeated the feat in a rematch in August that's vaulted him to the forefront of the sport.

He and fellow unbeaten heavyweight champ Tyson Fury talked publicly about wanting to unify their crowns after the second Joshua fight. But Fury chose a December match with Derek Chisora in the interim, and Usyk is on the mind of ex-WBC champ Deontay Wilder, who returned after a year layoff with a one-round KO win on Saturday in Brooklyn.

"If I get the choice, of course, I’m going with Usyk," Wilder said on The Good Fight with Kate Abdo. "I’ll go with Usyk, whup Usyk, and then give [Andy] Ruiz a title shot. That’s how it would work. Who wouldn’t? We’re in this business to obtain greatness and collect belts."

Weight Class: Heavyweight

Titles Held: WBC

When the heavyweights are thriving, the sport is thriving.

And thanks largely to the efforts of Tyson Fury, the former is certainly true.

He was an unbeaten enigma with little more than a past title claim when he returned to full-time status in 2018 after a prolonged layoff, but he's spent the subsequent four years legitimizing his status as the best fighter in the highest-profile weight class.

Fury nearly returned to belted status in a 12-round draw with the aforementioned Wilder in the third fight of his comeback, but he made it convincingly official in a rematch 14 months later in February 2020 when he stopped the previously unbeaten American in seven brutal rounds.

Another return bout in October 2021 yielded another KO win, this time in 11 rounds, and Fury has appeared once since for a sixth-round KO of Dillian Whyte before a bizarre series of would-be retirements, cryptic plans to fight UFC heavyweight king Francis Ngannou and intentions to meet British rival Joshua.

None of those things has occurred, and as of how he's penciled in to meet Chisora in December with chatter about a subsequent unification with Usyk in 2023.

Stay tuned.

Weight Class: 118 pounds

Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC

If Bivol is the best big fighter no one knows, that makes Naoya Inoue the best small one.

"The Monster" has been full-on terrorizing the lightest weight classes since his last days as a teenager, winning his first world title at 108 pounds in just his sixth pro bout and adding subsequent championships at 115 and 118.

He's done so with a wrecking-ball mentality that's yielded KOs in 20 of 23 pro wins and 16 of 18 title bouts, including June's second-round finish of future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire in a rematch of a bout that went the 12-round distance in 2019.

Inoue holds three of the four major belts at 118 pounds and is expected to meet WBO champ Paul Butler to unify the division in December, but he's hampered by the absence of a truly threatening and compelling foe in the weight class.

He's already beaten the fighters occupying the next three spots beneath him in The Ring's rankings at bantamweight—the fighter ranked fourth, Gary Antonio Russell, lost Saturday—and there's only so far a 5'5" frame and 67.5-inch reach will take him.

Weight Class: 147 pounds

Titles Held: WBO

As for Terence Crawford, he checks all the boxes.

He's been spectacular over a prolonged stretch of years. He's beaten a series of high-quality foes. He's climbed through multiple weight classes. And he's still hungry for accomplishment.

That's what makes him the best fighter in the world.

He was a belt-holder at 135 pounds after his 23rd pro fight and has won 15 more since while racking up title defenses and additional championships at 140 and 147 pounds, ending 13 of 16 title bouts inside the scheduled distance—including all six at welterweight.

Crawford became the first man to stop ex-WBC champ Shawn Porter (TKO 10) in his most recent fight last November, and he's waiting patiently for the divisional showdown with the also-unbeaten Spence that was discussed a few slides back.

His in-ring ferocity along with an ability to subtly switch from left- to right-handed stances and back during a fight set him apart from his contemporaries, and he shows no real signs of slowing down or losing his hunger, even at age 35.

"I need to prove and show the world that I'm really No. 1 when I say I'm No. 1," Crawford said on the Showtime Boxing podcast (h/t Boxing Scene) in August. "I wouldn't say it's a big ego.

"I would say it's confidence. Everything that I have done thus far has shown that. Stopping everybody in the welterweight division. Never having a close fight. Dominating every opponent that I ever faced. I think that's showing that I'm No. 1."